Avoiding the burka police? We have an app for that

Share via

A mobile phone app is helping young Iranians to dodge the oppressive morality
police by alerting them to checkpoints and security patrols.

Gershad — a conflation of Gashte Ershad, the name of Iran’s “guidance” police
— allows users to crowdsource information and map the patrols’ movements to
avoid arrest. Gashte means patrol and ershad means guidance in
Farsi. The app was launched last week and has proved so popular that its
developers say they are creating systems for other repressive states, such
as Saudi Arabia.

Iran’s morality policemen — under the guidance of the powerful Revolutionary
Guards — monitor behaviour regarded as violating the